DEPARTMENT of Finance boss John Moran has been named as a director of the European Investment Bank (EIB) although he will give the €800 a day for attending meetings to the Exchequer.

Mr Moran was quietly appointed to the post earlier this month to replace Michael Somers. His predecessor at the department, Kevin Cardiff, was appointed to the post in 2007.

Every European Union country is entitled to name one person from their country to sit on the bank's board.

Like all other directors, Mr Moran will be paid €600 a day for attending meetings, along with a €200 daily allowance to cover expenses if he has to stay overnight but that money goes to the State.

The Luxembourg-based EIB was set up in the 1950s to help invest inside and outside what is now the European Union.

It is currently working with AIB in providing €200m for investment by small and medium companies across Ireland.

It also signed off on co-financing to build the N7 Newlands Cross fly-over and upgrade the N11 Arklow-Rathnew road in Co Wicklow to a dual carriageway. The EIB is considering funding for a €370m extension to the Luas.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said earlier this year that projects supported by the EIB could provide an additional 13,000 Irish jobs. The Government has courted the EIB aggressively over the past two years as a source of 'off-balance-sheet' financing for such projects.

The EIB is also in discussions about public-private partnership (PPP) investment on the N17 road, as well as at the University of Limerick.

It could potentially help finance the Dublin Institute of Technology's (DIT) new Grangegorman campus as well as ongoing school-building projects across the country.